Shiloh SuttonCss: Cleric of AphroditeHP: 150/150Level: 13MP: 150/150Lust: 3320 Strength: 8Ara: 0Finesse: 15Divine: 163Fortitude: 15Resistance: 15Endurance: 12Focus: 15 Ara LittonCss: BerserkerHP: 1000/1000Level: 8MP: e: 35 Strength: 100Ara: 0Finesse: 11Divine: 0Fortitude: 100Resistance: 0Endurance: 13Focus: 0 Twil ReignoverCss: Temporal MageHP: 100/100Level: 8MP: 150/150 Strength: 12Ara: 93Finesse: 10Divine: 0Fortitude: 10Resistance: 54Endurance: 8Focus: 15 Elnor LudgerCss: ToxophiliteHP: 100/100Level: 8MP: 0/0 Strength: 14Ara: 0Finesse: 95Divine: 0Fortitude: 10Resistance: 10Endurance: 12Focus: 0 Bebsp;QuickfootCss: Bul: 1520/1520Level: 15MP: 10/10 Strength: 20Ara: 1Finesse: 14Divine: 1Fortitude: 152Resistance: 30Endurance: 27Focus: 1 "How long does it st?" Elnor asked, awed by the sudden and drastic leap in power their team had achieved with Shiloh's ritual.

  "A week." Shiloh responded weakly. He was currently riding on Katerine's back. The ritual had exhausted him so much that they'd o carry him for most of the day just to make headway. Beck had done most of the work, having higher Endurahan the rest of them, but even she needed a break from time to time.

  "That's... incredible." Katerine huffed. "Just... I thought... the skills that... tied you... to Shiloh... were amazing... but that one... is insane."

  "Do you need a break?" Ara asked from the front of their party.

  "Not yet... I ... keep going."

  "Well, I thiually might stand a ce against some vampires now." Beck said, her tails swishing with excitement. "I mean, I've got fifteen hundred health, and all of you have gotten massive damage buffs. We have the stats of level thirty adventurers!"

  "I got a ton of health too!" Ara grinned back at them all. "Ohousah is more than enough to eat a few attacks while I'm up close and personal."

  "The true be has not even bee yet." Twil said sagely. "I didn't calcute Shiloh's auras correctly earlier. Ating for the boost his own ritual gave his Divinity stat, he further boost all of our stats by eighty-two points each, and oat in our party gets one hundred and sixty-four instead, sihe boosts round up and are added separately."

  That brought a ringing sileo the journey. One hundred and sixty-four points, as a boost, on top of their already-ludicrous stats. That would put any primary stat in their group to at least two hundred and fifty. Acc to the records Twil had read, those kinds of numbers were incredibly rare on anyone below levels fifty to sixty. Needless to say, they were walking into the mountains a bit more sure of themselves than they had been before.

  "I think... I ought... to share... my skills... wheop." Katerine ented as she trudged along, carrying their sleepy Support.

  "If you want to, that's perfectly fih us." Elnor responded carefully. "But you don't o feel like our openness is a provocation to make you share your own abilities."

  "It's not... that..." Elnor waited a few more steps, clearly thinking about what she was going to say. "My goddess... Lady Aphro...dite... told me to... trust you all... and that... Shy would... protect me..."

  "Well, if our patron goddess advised you to do so, I certainly wouldn't go against her." Twil said ftly. "All the stories say that it is folly to ighe advice of the divine."

  Despite having to trade off Shiloh-carrying-duties, they still made det time that day, thanks to their biology's natural strength. Even tiny Twil was able to carry him, though she had to do so princess-style instead of piggy-back. They made it more than halfway as far as they would've gotten without carrying Shiloh when they decided to just call it a day. The sun was still a ways off the mountains, but they were all feeling the burn in their legs now.

  The terrain had gotten much rougher, now that they were truly in the foothills of the mountains. The ine seemed to increase with every step, and loose gravel pgued their feet, ating they walk slower to make sure they weren't going to trip. The trees surrounding them, at the very least, gave them a break from the winds, but the temperature just kept dropping.

  While Ara and Beck set up the tent, Elnor started unpag food and Twil began gathering wood for a fire. Katerine was left holding Shiloh in her p while he cuddled into her, still dozing. When Ara and Beck were dohey came over and sat down as well.

  "Do you wao set your tent up for you?" Beck asked the hirl.

  "Oh... um... I w-was just g-going to s-sleep in y-yours, if th-that's okay. Y-you had m-mentio the f-first night."

  Bed Ara both broke into wide smiles that somehow looked more like predators bearing their fangs than friends a warm tent.

  "That would be good." Shiloh mumbled into Katerine before ing his arms around her and squeezing her in a hug. He nuzzled deeper into her chest, and she almost missed his words with how muffled they were. "You belong with the group. One of us, now."

  Katerihought her heart would give out. She gazed fondly down at the geous man holding her with the familiarity born of love, an embrace she had not felt since she was a little girl. She had to blink back tears, and was grateful of something else to focus owil returned with the firewood and started the fire up. It was nid cozy against the frigid mountain air, and it is what finally vinced Shiloh to sit up and be ambutory on his own.

  Dinner was another bnd affair. Rations were only meant to be eaten when you couldn't bring down game and, as there was no game to be brought down, they had beeing them since leaving the tiny town outside Chattery. heless, it filled their bellies and brought on the sleepy sensation that called them to bed.

  They all filed into the tent, and Shiloh practically colpsed into the middle of the . Beorted with ughter as the rest of them began undressing. When they'd fihey annoyed Shiloh by pulling his clothes off while he was ying down, then soothed him by f the cuddle puddle with him in the middle. Elnor cimed a spot by his side, as she'd been denied her extra time with him, and Katerine pressed in close oher side. Bed Ara fhem, while Twil took up her usual pce. Directly on top of him. She was light enough that it was like having a weighted b. A weighted bhat moved a lot in the night and snored pretty damn loud.

  ***

  "A-alright, j-just d-don't make f-fun of m-me." Katerine warhe rest of Aphrodite's Apostles, still eating their breakfast, swore they wouldn't. She took a big breath, and shared her stat s.

  KaterineSharvelCss: Ruination Mage HP: 100/100Level: 11MP: 400/400 Strength: 11Ara: 95Finesse: 9Divine: 0Fortitude: 10Resistance: 12Endurance: 11Focus: 20 Mana BombSpell

  Select a point you see within 200 feetof you. Creatures within 30 feet of that pointtake damage equal to 25% of your Ara stat.Cost: 50 manaCooldown: 5 seds

  Fiery Ruin

  Spells you cast that affect multiple enemies alsocause them to catch fire, inflig burningdamage over 3 seds equal to 20% ofyour Ara stat.

  Mage's Studiousness

  Gain +10 Ara

  Friendly Fire

  Allies struck by your spells take 50% lessdamage, rounded up.

  Mana Well

  Double your maximum mana and mana regeion.

  EmancipationSpell

  Sele ally with more than five ehin te of them. Enemies withinte of that ally take damage equalto 75% of your Ara stat.Cost: 100 manaCooldown: 1 minute

  GaeaiptionSpell

  Select a point that you see within200 feet of you. Open a hole into theearth with a diameter of 60 feet teredon the chosen point.Cost: 150 manaDuration: 2 sedsCooldown: 1 minute

  OverchargeSpell

  Overcharge the damage-dealing spellyou cast. Overcharged spells deal doubledamage.Cost: 100 manaCooldown: 10 seds

  Reign of Ruin

  Copy every tenth damage-dealing spell you cast.Any modifiers to that spell are also applied tothe copy. You may choose a arget for thecopy.

  Font of Lucidity

  While not in bat, increase your mana regeionby 900%.

  Too Close for fortSpell

  All enemies within 30 feet of you are knockedbackwards until they are 30 feet away from you.Enemies who travel more than five feet are alsodealt damage equal to 50% of your Ara stat.

  "Why in the living hells would we ugh at that?" Ara asked, looking amazed. "You're fug stacked, Kat! You do, like, everything I do, but better."

  "I only h-have one p-point above t-twenty!" Katerine protested. "I m-might be g-good at what I d-do, but it's a-all I d-do."

  "It's all we need you to dht now." Shiloh reassured her. He took one of her hands and squeezed. "I'm sure you'll get more varied options iure, but you fill a very important hole in our team right now. We're great at taking down single, powerful enemies, and Ara gets stronger when fighting lots of enemies, but we don't really have any area-of-effect attacks without you."

  Katerine smiled at him and blushed.

  "Get a room already." Beck groaned. "You two are siingly sweet."

  Shiloh gri Beck, then pulled Katerio a kiss. The surprised hirl went stiff, then pletely melted into him. They explored each others' mouths thhly until she had to pull away for air. Shiloh gnced over at Beck, and found her mouth slightly open, her pupils dited, her skirt slightly tented, ahighs rubbing together. He cocked an eyebrow at her, and she quickly righted herself before blushing.

  Beck blushed. He must've really gottehere.

  "That was hot." Ara stated before taking another bite of oatmeal.

  "Well, let's get going. We think up strategies while we walk." Elnor said, standing up. The rest of them quickly wolfed down the rest of their breakfast and put the camp away. They were only two more hours into their trek when they saw the first sign of life they'd seen since leaving civilization.

  Elnor spotted it first, and she poi out with a gasp and a shaking hand. There, partially cealed behind a rge boulder and a tree, was the dead body of a frost drake. It had a long, reptilian body with four stout legs and a crest of spikes running from the back of its head all the way down its tail. It had no wings, and gave Shiloh the impression of an enormous komodon, with the addition of the spikes. Its scales were all varying shades of blue, from the deep blue seen otom of icebergs on its belly to a light, almost white, blue on its back. Tip to tail, it had to be at least forty feet long. He couldn't even begin to guess at how much it weighed, but it robably in the neighborhood of three fuckloads.

  More disturbing than the presence of the beast itself, however, were the enormous bite marks taken out of it. The drake's back left foot was missiirely, and there erfect bite mark taken right out of its back, going straight through its spi was covered in gouges and scrapes, as if it had fought with all its strength before whatever found it had gone for the kill. Based on the size of the pieces missing, their whole party would fit down the monster's gullet in one swallow.

  "What did this?" Shiloh whispered.

  "A dragon." Ara responded. "Its the only thing that has such a rge maw, and its one of very few predators of frost drakes. These things are usually the apex predator unless a dragon is around."

  "W-what d-do w-we d-do i-if i-it f-finds u-us?" Katerine's stammer became much more pronounced as she gawked at the skies, as if expeg a dragon to nd right on top of our party.

  "Realistically? It would be great if it didn't." Beswered, just as nervously.

  "I think our best, and perhaps only, ce of survival would rest on Shiloh's shoulders." Twil stated. They all looked at her. "Dragons are not dumb brutes like many other monsters. They are highly intelligent, and there are mas of people being able to verse with them. If Shiloh were to speak with it, Aphrodite's Advocate might be able to spare all of our lives."

  "Okay..." Shiloh said, not enjoying being volun-told to beg for their lives from a giant, flying, fire-breathing lizard. "What's the backup pn to that? What if it just attacks us immediately?"

  All eyes turo Ara, who took several mio think it through. "Well, we won't be able to pierce its scales or hide without ented ons. So the only damage we could do would be with Elnor's Double Shot, her Arrows of Endowment, or Shiloh's Aphrodite's Favor. None of our stunning effects will work on a dragon, so the best ce would be for her to get off a single shot empowered by all of Shy's buffs, Marksman, Unerring Shot, and Double Shot, then have Shy immediately dump the rest of his Lust for Aphrodite's favor.

  "If that doesn't scare it off, Twil will o activate Deyed Satisfa to give Shy bae Lust so he put the buffs back up. At that point, it's going to be determined by whether or not Elnor hurt it bad enough to make it leave before it kills the rest of us. She use Shadow Stalker at that point for a minute of Marksman triggers. Beyond that, it's pretty hopeless."

  "All of that just to scare it off?" Shiloh asked.

  "Shy, honey, baby, you don't kill dragons." Beck said, ing an arm around his shoulders. "They are the mea, toughest, scariest motherfuckers in the world. If a dragon stands between you and where you want to go, you better find somewhere else to go. It takes a full squadron, twenty people, of at least level sixty to pose a real threat to them. The best we could hope for is to vi that there are easier meals out here for it."

  As soon as she finished speaking, there was a bone-shaking, blood-chilling roar that echoed through the foothills. A shadow covered them for a moment, and was gohey all looked up and saw huge wings carrying a body ten times the size of the frost drake down in a zy circle above their position. The whole thing was ruby red, and it sparkled just like the gemstone.

  Shiloh gulped. "So, uh, what n A, again?"